Persistence of a Faded Memory
by Oceansportrait
Summary: Momiji has learned to live his life without letting anyone get close to his heart, is it time for a change? T/M + T/Y
1. Chapter 1 Dream Bracelet

Tohru Honda. Six months before he wouldn't have even known her full name even though they shared the same class, and now they were living under the same roof. He rested his head against the palm of his hand, his light-colored locks brushing against his arm. Watching Tohru laugh, he wondered how she could still have a cheery outlook on life after the death of her mother in a car accident almost a year ago. If he had been as close with his mother as Tohru and her mother was, he most likely would not have been able to even smile a year after, let alone laugh with careless contentment.

But that was the part of her that he most envied. Her ability to be able to look on the bright side of things, no matter how grim the road ahead seemed.

_"No please Akito, I promise I won't make the same mistake twice!"_

He sat upright as the memory flashed across his mind. It was strange, it had been years since the memories of his unpleasant childhood had surfaced to his thoughts. After he had moved out of the main house of the Sohma's, he had buried his past in that home deep within himself, to a place where, even if he wanted to remember, the recollections would be lost. Shaking his head to clear the words echoing in his mind, he returned to listening to an upperclassman talking to him about an upcoming event that was going to be sponsored by the student council.

He didn't notice Tohru waving a friendly hand in front of his face until she called out his name questioningly. "I'm sorry Honda-san, were you saying something?"

"It's about 4 o'clock, I thought maybe we could start walking home together."

They walked out of the school gates, the roads quiet as they made their way down the street that lead to the Sohma house. The sun was beginning to set, the golden-orange tones spanning the sky in an ink-spill pattern. Tohru looked up at the sky, admiring the colors. Sunset was her favorite part of the day, because it was the only time when you saw the sun and the land come together and become one. It was the only part of the day where land and sun could touch. Like forbidden lovers who have finally united.

Remembering an item she had made at school and had planned to give Yuki, she halted in the middle of the street, opening her leather sack and searching through its contents. Yuki paused as well, looking over his shoulder curiously. Tohru pulled out the item from her bag, smiling as she handed the hand-woven bracelet to Yuki.

"What is this?" He asked, fingering the intricately woven designs on the bracelet.

"It's called a dream bracelet. You put it on your wrist and you close your eyes and make a wish. And people say that when the bracelet breaks, your wish will be granted. I made one for Kyo-kun, Uo-chan, and Hana-chan too. I wanted to ask you what your wrist size was but I wanted the bracelet to be a surprise, I can always remake it for you if it doesn't fit. Here, I'll help you put it on." Tohru took the bracelet from his grasp, tying two knots at the end and slipping the item onto his wrist.

"Hmm…" She said, touching her chin with her index finger thoughtfully. "The bracelet is a little bit too big—"

Yuki blocked the arm that had the bracelet tied on with his other hand. "It's all right Honda-san, you don't have to go through all the trouble to make another one."

Tohru's eyes widened slightly, and in an insisting tone she said, "Oh no, I won't mind Yuki-kun, it's my fault in the first place for wanting to give this to you as a surprise—"

"—And it was a wonderful surprise. Thank you." Yuki smiled lightly.

She returned the gesture, falling into step beside him as they crossed an intersection. They were almost at the front door of the Sohma house before she realized one key point she had forgotten about the bracelet. As Yuki went to open the door to the house, Tohru reached out to stop him, touching his arm in the process. "I just remembered that you haven't made your wish with the dream bracelet yet, I'm not really sure how the bracelet works either so the quicker you are to make the wish, the quicker the wish might be granted." Blushing, she hastily withdrew her arm back to her side.

"So I close my eyes and make a wish?" He asked, receiving his reply in the form of a nod from Tohru. Closing his eyes, he pondered over what to make a wish over, even though it was going to be on a childish story, since Tohru took such an effort to make the bracelet, he should make an effort to conjure up a good wish. When he opened his eyes, he found Tohru looking at him expectantly.

"What did you wish for?" Tohru questioned.

He didn't reply in a straight-forward manner, he simply smiled at her before stepping inside the house. He couldn't tell her what he wished for, it would probably sound ridiculous to her, since it sounded ridiculous to him. But it was a wish he wanted granted nonethless.

_I wish for one day to be as happy as Tohru Honda._

TBC….


	2. Chapter 2 His Second Chance

He fingered the smooth material of a small photo booklet he kept by his side always. The leather, from being opened daily, was frayed at the edges, its once deep brown color now a lighter shade. Even with the leather in the shape that it was, its contents remained looking as it did the first time it had been developed in the dark room. The first photo, was of a beautiful blonde woman that much resembled him in many ways. A carefree smile captured in the essence of time. He smiled as well, thinking how happy she must have been when the photo was taken.

__

"Your mother is falling apart, please, do this for her…"

His smile faded. His own mother didn't know he existed. His mother was able to get a new chance at life, but the price he paid was a life of pretending that his mother was just another member of the Sohma family. But it's okay. Everything was all right as soon as he had seen his mother smile, just as she had in the picture that was taken many years before. He touched the edge of the photo, tracing the woman's smile.

This was only a small price to pay for his mother's happiness. Her memories of him compared to her happiness…he would be saying falsehoods if he said it was an easy decision to make, but he knew it was a decision he had to make. No matter how much he had tried as a child, he was never able to make her smile as she had in the picture as long as she remembered him. By her forgetting he even existed, she was once again able to smile without the shadows that frequently passed by her face when she came to realization that she had given birth to something that couldn't possibly be human in her eyes.

"Mother, I miss you."

__

"Are you going to regret forgetting your son?"

"The only thing I've regretted in my life is giving birth to that…monster."

Liquid droplets splashed onto the protective plastic of the booklet. Rain? He touched the corners of his eyes, surprised to feel wetness on the pads of his fingers. Tears after he thought all the tears he could ever cry in a lifetime were shed because of the incident. Apparently, there were still a bit more left.

If he put himself in his mother's shoes, he couldn't really blame her for saying what she said. Perhaps if he was the parent, and he found himself not being able to even show such a small affection such as hugging his child, then perhaps he himself would withdraw back into his shell, denying the child's existence. No matter how much pain that act might bring the child.

"Mother, today I went to Yuki and Kyo's house. Tohru's really nice, I'm sure if you ever get the chance to meet her, you'd like her as much as I do. Do you know what day tomorrow is? It's your birthday." He put a finger to his lips. "But shh…it's a surprise. Father always said you liked surprises."

The small case in his pocket that contained his mother's birthday present felt heavy, yet he didn't want to leave it out of his sight for one second, because then, he wouldn't have a present for his mother. Why he always got a present the same time each year he didn't know. His mother would never get to open it. The person who would open the present would be the stranger who was in the Sohma family. His mother without her memory. A stranger.

But it was the only time each year, that he could see her smile. When she opens the present, surprise, then an expression he never got to see as a child. Somehow, that made up for it all. Made up for not knowing him, made up for never getting the love that he had craved so for as a child.

"Momiji-kun?"

He looked up, startled to find himself facing the person of thoughts. Shoving the leather booklet back into his pocket, he jumped off the stand he had been sitting on, turning to the woman with an expression he didn't feel. An expression of lighthearted innocence.

"What are you doing here at this time of night Momiji-kun? Wouldn't your parents be worried?"

Biting back the bitter disappointment he felt each time he encountered her and realized she would never regain her memory, he let out a small laugh. "I'm sorry, I was playing with this new game my father bought me, I guess I simply lost track of time." 

The stranger whose face was his mother's, smiled gently. Her face showed no signs of recognition other than that of him being related to one of the Sohma clan.

"I better go before my parents start to wonder where I am." He waved to her as he ran to the closing elevator, getting on just as the doors shut. Feeling the quiet thudding of his heart going off in an uneven pattern, he closed his eyes, instinctively reaching out to the leather casing that held his mother's photograph. Relief washed over him as he once again saw his mother's picture.

He had given his mother a second chance. Who would be there to give him his?

Another chance so he can once again learn to smile without the shadows that always held him back. To be able to smile…just like his mother. He turned to the second page of the photo booklet, to reveal a childish drawing of a smiling Momiji, with the sun and stars in his eyes. 

His second chance.

TBC…

Note: I originally wrote this to be a one-shot fic, a stand alone fic about Momiji's past, but then I thought this would be a nice introduction to Momiji's character in this series. Although the scenes seem a bit unstable right now (jumping from scene to scene without any connections), the later chapters should clear things up. :)


End file.
